Former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten is optimistic that Anderson Silva can return stronger than ever. His data is anecdotal, but the former MMA great has seen such comebacks firsthand.

“If he’s [38], still a young age, and he takes enough calcium, I would say it should be OK – if it’s a clean break,” Rutten told MMAjunkie Radio. “I don’t know whether it’s a complicated break. So let’s first wait and see.”

A UFC-commissioned doctor who examined and operated on Silva after his gruesome leg break at UFC 168 said the ex-champ’s injury could be much worse, noting that his broken tibia and fibula did not pierce the skin or tear a blood vessel.

The doctor said it could be six to nine months before training is possible for Silva (33-6 MMA, 16-2 UFC), who sustained the injury in the second round of this past Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner when middleweight champ Chris Weidman (11-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) checked a leg kick.

Rutten (28-4-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a 13-year vet who retired in 2006, has experience with broken bones. He thinks Silva should be able to fight again provided there are no complications during recovery.

“I broke a guy’s shinbone once by accident with an inverted heel hook, and he was out for 13 months,” said Rutten, who currently co-hosts AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” while commentating events around the world. “He was eight months, and then he got an infection in that leg. Without an infection, he should be OK in six months. Let’s hope they keep it clean.

“You build your muscles because you’re breaking your muscles down, and they come back stronger. It’s the same with bone. If you break your shin at the spot where it heals, if it heals correctly, it will never break again.”

Rutten saw the injury live when he attended UFC 168 while on vacation in Las Vegas.

“I thought Anderson was going to do it,” he said. “I looked back at the last fight, when he started stopping the takedowns and then he got overconfident, and I thought, ‘Well, he’s not going to get confident right now. He’s going to take care of business, just like with Chael Sonnen.’

“I have to say, though, that Weidman did really good. He rocked him in the first round. It was a really good fight. If [the injury] had happened in the first round, it would have been, ‘Yeah, I don’t know.’ But he did a great job, and that’s why he’s the champion. It’s not a great way to win, and also for Anderson, it’s not a great way to lose.”

Rutten also is familiar with comebacks, though not after such a devastating injury. In 2006, at age 41, he returned to the cage after a seven-year layoff to fight Ruben Villareal. In training camp, he suffered an injury but competed nonetheless.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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